May 12, 2016•Update: May 20, 2016
By P Prem Kumar
KUALA LUMPUR
Malaysia’s transport minister announced Thursday that two more pieces of plane debris found in South Africa and a Mauritian island were confirmed to “almost certainly” originate from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
Liow Tiong Lai said that investigators determined that the panels discovered in South Africa and Rodrigues belonged to a Boeing 777 aircraft, like that which disappeared more than two years ago with 239 passengers and crew members on board.
“We wish to express our sincere gratitude to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), Geoscience Australia and Boeing for their undivided commitment and assistance in this examination process,” he added in a statement.
“We also thank the Governments of Mozambique, Mauritius and South Africa for the efforts and cooperation extended to Malaysia in this matter.”
The part found in South Africa was determined to be an engine cowling piece with a partial Rolls-Royce logo and that found in Rodrigues an interior panel piece from a plane cabin.
In March, the ATSB -- which is leading the search for the aircraft -- revealed in its Technical Examination Report that two pieces of debris found in Mozambique had been confirmed to “almost certainly” originate from MH30.
In July last year, a part -- later determined to be a flaperon from an MH370 wing -- was found washed ashore on the French island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar.
After 10 months of intensive undersea search for the vanished flight, on Jan. 29, 2015 Malaysia declared that MH370 was lost in an accident, killing all passengers.
In Thursday’s statement, minister Liow thanked the governments of China, Malaysia and Australia -- which lost 152, 50 and six citizens, respectively, in the tragedy -- for their continuing commitment to ongoing efforts.
An area of more than 105,000 square kilometers (40,540 square miles) has been scoured during the most intensive search in commercial aviation history.
